Heading to final ‘practice’ games for playoffs, Spurs to play regulars vs. Rockets

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Rest time could be over. The Spurs goal now moves to being playoff “sharp.”

After 80 games stuffed with 62 wins in which Spurs coach Gregg Popovich carefully ensured his veteran team would stay healthy and well-rested, another goal crept into his planning heading into tonight’s game against the Rockets.

With the postseason less than a week away and the Spurs at full strength, Popovich said he was ready to go from resting starters to playing them to get them up to playoff speed.

“Having all your horses going in the playoffs is huge I think that’s everybody’s major concern. And then hopefully you’re as sharp as you can be execution wise. Those two things I think are the top priorities. I want to keep everybody healthy and I want to keep everybody sharp. That means you can’t just sit people and expect them to roll out first playoff game and be sharp and ready to go. People have to play.”

Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili sat out Friday’s win against the Suns. Tony Parker played just 24 minutes. He sat out the night before and played just nine minutes in his previous game, April 6, when he bruised his lower back.

“We’re going to do a mix, I guess,” Ginobili said. “It’s a mix of rest and keep in shape. You can’t just sit for a week and wait for Sunday, or whatever day we’re going to play, and expect to be ready. Most of us are going to play. I guess some of the guys that didn’t miss as many games are going to sit for one of the two games, but for sure, we’re going to play and we’re going to practice.

“It’s better to practice against a great team than between us. We’re not playing for basically anything. The Rockets are. Most other teams are. We earned that. Hopefully, we use it wisely. In my case it’s never 30-plus (minutes), but it is for T.D., Tony. We need to go up and down and feel good about ourselves.”